Saturday 5th Dec 2015 (1 PM - 4 PM )

Globally, the pharmacy profession has been in a state of gradual change over the last decades and in many ways. Primarily pharmacy is moving from a fundamentally service- based profession (i.e. providing medications to patients) to one with a more specific and significant clinical or patient focus. Also, many financial and regulatory changes have impacted on the way we interact in pharmacy with patients, employers and staff; as well as conduct the business of pharmacy. Such changes may expose pharmacists to several complex ethical and legal challenges. Whilst the legal framework within which we practice pharmacy could be slightly different between countries – the ethical principles which provide the foundations of professional practice are sometimes surprisingly similar.

Importantly, hand in hand with practice changes, it is vital to educate future generations of practitioners in contemporary standards of practice and ethical principles involved in the practice of pharmacy. However, unlike many other areas of pharmacy education, little attention has been directed towards determining the best way to prepare pharmacy students for the challenges of the legal and ethical complexities faced by modern practice.

The question is whether the current curricula used in pharmacy schools is creating “value literate” practitioners who possess not only the necessary tools to handle the ethical issues that arise, but also the interest to be involved in broader ethical discussions as they relate to the profession. This workshop will aim to explore the teaching of professional ethics in pharmacy curricula, in particular in light of the International Federation of Pharmacy [FIP] recent guidelines on codes of ethics in pharmacy and contemporary standards of professional practice.

OBJECTIVES

After attending this workshop you should be able to

1- Understand basic principles of professional ethics in pharmacy practice 2- Understand the learning and teaching models for training students in ethics in practice 3- Undertake some decision making exercises in the context of case studies4- Reflect on current curricula and what can be or should be changed5- Articulate aspirations relating to teaching professional ethics in the future